What Is Form 6-K?

Form 6-K is submitted by certain foreign private issuers to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to keep investors aware of information the issuers distribute outside of the United States.

The only SEC submission required of foreign issuers outside of annual reports, this Exchange Act form aims to ensure cross-border transparency of information and investor protection. Form 6-K is used to report any material information that a foreign issuer makes public in its home country, files publicly with its home country stock exchange, or distributes to its security holders.

From 6-K also serves as a means of reporting any other significant information arising between annual reports and often includes copies of the foreign issuer’s latest financial reports, like income statements, cash-flow statements and balance sheets.

Foreign issuers submit Form 6-K to the SEC electronically. It’s displayed publicly using the SEC’s EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval) system. A record that shows “6-K/A” is an amended Form 6-K, submitted when material information has changed.

How Can Merrill Help?

With nearly 50 years of SEC compliance experience, and as one of the first companies to actively engage with EDGAR and the XBRL mandate, Merrill is uniquely qualified to help filers worldwide successfully navigate ever-changing SEC requirements. With Merrill, you can manage regulated disclosure with absolute security, precision and accuracy.